Secreted proteins coordinate functions of organs and organisms, and compose a yet uncharacterized communication network. For example, in homeostasis, fat-derived adipokines leptin and adiponectin serve as inter-organ secreted metabolic regulators, and in behavior, major urinary proteins serve as inter-organism excreted pheromones regulating aggression. Secreted factors are also relevant for disease: resulting from poorly-characterized dysfunctional inter-organ signaling, obesity affects 40% of the US population. Despite their relevance for understanding novel biological processes and diseases, identifying the secreted proteins involved has been challenging. Existing analysis methods have serious limitations that preclude comprehensive identification of low-abundance factors and their origins and destinations. Thus, many additional physiologically- and disease-relevant factors remain to be identified. To address this, our new lab will broadly aim to apply novel high-throughput quantitative approaches we developed to inter-organ and inter-organism communication, in order to understand the nature of the signals involved, which tissue(s) they originate from and target, their functions, and how they are regulated in stress or disease.
In our laboratory, we are using mouse genetics, genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics to map and functionally characterize novel interorgan communication peptides and proteins.
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